Family and Community Engagement

In this episode of Glenbrook Insights, host Dr. R.J. Gravel explores the vital role of community engagement in driving student success across the district. Whether you are a new family or a seasoned Spartan or Titan, this conversation highlights practical ways to get involved through organizations such as the Booster Club and the Parents Association. Dr. Gravel also discusses how the 10-Year Master Facility Plan remains a collaborative effort, inviting community feedback on major projects, such as stadium renovations, to ensure the Board of Education’s decisions are directly informed by the voices of our families.

Guests:

• Edward Haravon, GBS Booster Club President 
• Jane Ciancanelli, GBN Parents Association Membership Chair
• Carol Smith, Executive Director of Communications

Host: Dr. R.J. Gravel

Transcript

Welcome And Why Families Matter

Speaker 1 0:04

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Glenbrook Insights Podcast. I'm your host, RJ Gravel, and today we are going to be talking about the heartbeat of our schools, community engagement, in particular, the engagement of our families. Now, this is really important because each year we welcome about 25% new parents to our schools. Sometimes our parents have other kiddos who are in the school currently or might have just graduated. And other times, this is their first rising freshman who's either going to be a future Spartan or a future Titan. And they're wondering you know, I understand what middle school was like, elementary school is like, but I'm not too sure how to get involved at high school, especially at a time like I'm reminded every so often at home of my kiddo who may not want to share all of those opportunities for me to get involved. And so to help us through that process, we have two wonderful individuals that are going to join us. And I'll just say their name and ask you just to say who you are and your organization, a little background of yourself. We'll start, Ed, and tell us about yourself. Who are you? What school are you with? And how long have you been part of that school?

Speaker 1:17

Yeah, sure. So my name is Ed Haravon. I'm currently the president of the Glenbrook South uh Titan Booster Club. Um, also a parent at Glenbrook South and have been for the course of eight years. I've had four children go through uh 225 at GBS. Uh and in terms of athletics, uh running the gambit of boy sports and girl sports and varsity and freshman B team. So kind of feel like I've had a good uh uh exposure to kind of the entire piece. It's been a big part of my life, my wife's life as well, uh sitting in the stands and not just watching our own kids, but watching other kids in the community and uh um sharing that time with other parents in the community. So that's kind of led my interest in uh becoming part of the booster club and probably where I'm sitting today as as president, but certainly, you know, that generally is kind of the story for for all of our board members, um, and and really an opportunity to kind of help enrich and kind of put the extra special touches on the athletic experience at GBS that we can to support the entirety of the students that that take place that participate in sports.

Speaker 1 2:23

Well, welcome, Ed, and thank you for not only your four Titans, but a Titan family of commitment and dedication and involvement. My wife went to Glenbrook North too, so Ah, so there's a little rivalry in the household. Uh friendly. Friendly. That that's fair. Friendly. Well, what a perfect segue. Jane, we're so happy to have you. Jane, tell us a little about yourself, about your family. Sure.

Speaker 2 2:45

My name is Jane Ciancanelli, and I'm currently the membership chair of the Glenbrook North Parents Association. And I've been um a parent of Glenrock North students for about 10 years now. Um, I have two graduates and a current senior.

Speaker 1 3:00

Amazing. So another family of Spartans. And just out of curiosity, if you were to say one thing that is like really exciting about the parent association that you've enjoyed, what would that have been?

Speaker 2 3:13

Definitely making connections with other parents. I've developed some really great relationships with parents of kids that I wouldn't have come into contact with otherwise because our kids aren't friends. And um, so it's really nice to get to know parents outside of the parent relationship system.

Speaker 1 3:29

Absolutely. Sometimes just building those networks, right, up as parents help provide us an additional support system. Um, well, we have another wonderful guest that's joining us. Um, Carol, would you like to introduce yourself, share a little about yourself? Sure.

Booster Club Impact And Culture

Speaker 3 3:44

Thank you. Um my name is Carol Smith, and I am executive director of communications for the district. This is my fourth year um in the district, but my 26th year in school communications. So I'm really happy to be able to tell the stories of our of our students and our staff members. And I was fortunate last year when we were doing the Glenbrooks publication to have a wonderful conversation with Ed about the Booster Club and the way that they donated the funds for the um, for the um, tell me, weight room. Thank you. I was um and and we loved that spread. I mean, just the joy that that equipment and that space has brought to our staff and our students and our boosters who are so proud of what they have been able to accomplish. We were really excited to tell that story. So I'm happy to be here today to talk about um community engagement.

Speaker 1 4:35

Well, Carol and Ed, I I really appreciate how you guys shared that connection regarding the new weight room and the new perch equipment. It's one thing to learn about projects on a memo. It's another thing to actually see students engaged in the space, interacting with one another before school, during school, after school, and really benefiting from contributions from our community that make some of these projects come alive and provide them that experience that they'll be able to connect in other levels, whether it's uh colleges, careers, the military, and so on and so forth. Um, so talking about those contributions, let's kind of dive in and talk a little bit about the Parent Association to Booster Club. And I'm gonna start with you, Jane. I know with all of the different organizations that exist, oftentimes parents have familiarity with a PTA or a PTO. Um, and that's very true, especially in our feeder districts. Um from a parent who is new to Glenbrook North or Glenbrook South, can you share how a parent begins the process of connecting with our parents association?

Parent Association: How To Join

Speaker 2 5:47

Yes, absolutely. Um we are similar to a PTO at the middle school or elementary school level. Um and the way that parents can get involved in our organization at the high school level is to join. Um it's simply right now a $26 fee to become a member, and parents can do that as they're paying all of their school fees at the beginning of the school year. So the district has a fee payment system, and our fee is listed in there under the optional fee section, um, the Glenbrook North Parents Association. And once you click on that fee and pay that fee, you are a member of the Parents Association. It's as easy as that.

Speaker 1 6:27

And I can do that all at once. So I'm paying for my registration fee, and maybe I'm buying my yearbook, and at that same time I can sign up for the parent association.

Speaker 2 6:35

Absolutely, and the Glistener Club and um several other parent focused groups. But yes, by paying that fee, um you are a member, and that is um great support for our organization. We rely on those membership fees for all of the funding of our initiatives. We don't do any fundraising. Unlike some middle and elementary school PTOs, we do no fundraising. We act ask for no additional donations. We rely on the generosity of our members in just paying that $26 fee. Um what we do for our members is um a little different than PTOs as well, in that we do have monthly meetings, but at the PTO in the middle school, a lot of people are familiar with those meetings being focused on recruiting volunteers or planning events. Our meetings are more informative. We bring in um key representatives from the school, um, including our principal who's at every meeting, Mandy Hughes, our excellent principal. And then we always have guest speakers that provide information on a variety of topics. Um, Dr. Cravell has been a speaker at our meetings, as well as the deans in charge of athletics or the arts or safety. Um, no topic is off the table. Anything parents are interested is something that we bring in um representatives from the school to discuss. And our parent meetings are very engaging in that people ask questions and the representatives from the school provide answers and also get feedback from parents. So um, our meetings are a little bit different from the meetings you would go to in the middle school level, but they're they're informative and we do are open to all families from the school.

What Parents Learn At Meetings

Speaker 1 8:26

I remember attending about three meetings this year over at GBN with the Parent Association. And one of the things that I just find amazing um is the number of individuals who attend. I think back to some other organization I'm a part of, and sometimes you're lucky if you can get 10 or 15 people to show up. But at each meeting I was at, there had to be 40 plus individuals. Um, and they had used Parent Square to RSVP and say they were coming, which was great. But I also appreciated the timeliness of the topics. Um, I remember, um, especially for our uh juniors and seniors that are navigating the college experience, being able to hear directly from Dr. Boyle, our college and career counselor. Um, and then uh closer to November, December, when students were choosing their classes, um, we had uh representatives from our elective areas come, share about different opportunities. And again, it was a two-way dialogue. Parents were asking questions and getting answers that otherwise they wouldn't have. It was really a great experience.

Speaker 2 9:31

I agree. It's very informative and we do try to hit the topics at the right times. And yes, you mentioned Dr. Boyle, he's one of our more popular speakers because everyone wants to know about the next steps even after high school.

Speaker 1 9:44

So perhaps, you know, for all of our listeners who might have rising freshmen, it's never too early to start thinking about what the next step will be. And getting that information now is a great way. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. Let's kind of transition a little bit more. Ed, we have our booster club, and our booster club kind of um adds on across those four A's. We've talked a lot about academics, involvement, and things of that nature, but athletics is a core component of so many of our students. And that's not just our student athletes. Um, I was a music major going through all my time, and there are so many opportunities to connect, the dance and artistic expression, and band and bring all that together. So tell us about the booster club. How is it uh get involved in what are some things that the booster club does?

Booster Structure, Committees, Fundraising

Speaker 10:34

Sure. I'll talk a little bit about our structure to start with and kind of how we interact with various members of the GBS community. So there really is a bunch of different ways that people interact with with the booster club um to become a member. Um, there's a couple different membership levels, and that's just a beginning of the year, usually, or at any point when you come into contact with the school, um, you know, uh a donation uh that goes as part of our fundraising. Uh, and then you are in the booster club. Uh, you know, and then depending on what levels that you join at, there's some special gifts that we give and some signage and other swag, et cetera. So we make it kind of a nice package for people. Um, for those people who find themselves interested on a more ongoing basis, uh, our board is 30 members, so it's a fairly large board. That is quite a large and it's pretty active uh volunteer doing board. Um, so you know, we run, you know, everybody member on that board, for instance, is on a committee, whether that be an event committee, a membership committee, um, fundraising committee, sponsorship, external outreach into local businesses.

Speaker 1 11:35

Um I I remember on the committee, I was so impressed. Um, one of the meetings, uh, there's a marketing committee. Hopefully, I'm getting that right. And the marketing committee, one of our biggest committees, yeah. And they developed brand guidelines. Ms. Smith, I'm sure you'd appreciate this. Absolutely. Um, everything from this is our logo, we've recreated it, and this is how you use the logo. So it's not just about creating five uh flyers, it is about maintaining this brand and awareness. It was just so much work and thought put into that by parents.

Speaker 12:06

Yeah. So people kind of can choose their interests, and we sometimes look to kind of fill particular interests that'll that'll help us become more effective communicators or effective fundraisers or effective executors throughout the year. Um, so that would be more of a higher involved, and within that, you can be board committee and board chairman, or you can kind of be the president if you want to. So, you know, that would be like your formal, formal ways that you know you join the booster club as a parent, usually if your kids are involved in athletics and then you might want to get involved with later. There's other informal ways that people interact with the booster club. I would say that that's through any of our fundraisers. So we have um, you know, we have a major fundraiser coming up in the spring, our guest bartender event, um, which has been a huge success for us over the last six years. We have uh we sponsor um uh we did a great uh tailgate cookout this year before a football game. Uh we've uh had other I remember a very tasty sandwich. Yeah, just a Titan steak. Yes.

Speaker 1 13:03

So uh But I just for the record, the Parent Association has an amazing collection of snacks at every meeting.

Events, Volunteers, And Ways To Help

Speaker 13:10

Absolutely. We're we're enhancing, you know, not trying to uh substitute one for the other. Um, but you know, so there's ways to involve in in fundraising to be part of what we do. We have activities throughout the year that people can, you know, wind up just take taking part of as as parents attending games. And so um, you know, there's there's multiple ways, high touch, low touch, medium touch that people can get involved. We certainly also solicit for volunteers. So oftentimes people will come in, hey, I'm new to GBS, it's a big place. Um, I took place, I took part in various uh grammar school uh student organizations. Uh, this place is kind of scary here. I don't know how much I want to do, but you know, I used to I like volunteering. Just a larger school building with a few more kids. A few more kids than than the elementary schools, but um, you know, I but I I like volunteering to at night to sell tickets, or I like volunteering to um do a raffle, or I like volunteering to do whatever might be. So we have this year start a volunteer board too for those people that kind of want to just dip their toe and just kind of learn a little bit more. And um, you know, it's it's it's a it's a fun group too. I wouldn't say that people people are involved in the booster club because they also want to be, you know, they're excited about athletics at Glenbrook South and I'm sure at Glenbrook North. Um, and so it's kind of a shared passion they have. And so tends to be a lot of the people you see around, and you're already there with them for your sons or daughters games, and so um just kind of other ways to for people to get involved. So, in terms of like what we do, you know, that's you know, broad range of projects, anything from a big project like Carol mentioned earlier, the weight room that we did is over $180,000 project that we sponsored at Glenbright South, and all funded through donations, all funded through donations. Um, we do individual team kind of requests, so that tends to be all the smaller uh variety, but again, ways to kind of bring special elements to the athletic experience at GBS, um, hit individual teams along the way. Um, we do it as a partnership with the administration, our athletic director, Tom Midas. So we're not, you know, we're not rogue. We try to stay aligned. I'm sure we'll talk about MFP in a little bit. Um, but you know, it's best is we we work function best when we're aligned with kind of the athletic administration. The coaches, a big part of what we do in terms of their input uh through through our kind of a wishlist grant program. Um, so in many ways, we can kind of hit bigger ticket items, we can hit some smaller items, but all the ways to kind of help broaden that experience and and make it more rich for students.

Big Wins: Funding The Weight Room

Speaker 1 15:32

Well, let's kind of use that as a nice segue. Mrs. Smith, I'm gonna transition over to you. So recently, the Board of Education has approved a master facility plan. And this is a facility plan that we've recently been describing as starting with the outside and working our way in. And that's an acknowledgement that we have invested a considerable amount of time, energy, and resources into renovating our regular classrooms. Uh, we did that by transitioning to LED lighting, replacing all of our furniture to more flexible and movable furniture uh that meets the needs of today's students. We enhance all of the technology. Uh, and technology being um also things like whiteboards and different and different surfaces that students engage with. Um, well, we're doing a lot of focus now on recognizing that some of our exterior facilities have some areas for growth. Um, I don't think it is a um a secret that sometimes during pickup and drop-off time, there may not be sufficient places for vehicles to navigate uh and traverse. Maybe there's some areas of growth there. We also know that our students, even as we try to guide them through certain pathways and sidewalks, they don't always utilize those sidewalks and pathways because they're not where they perceive they should be. Um, so just some general pickup drop-off. Um, some larger areas do include um elements such as our entrances for students, making sure that um not only at the main entrance do we have kind of that staged experience where students and and visitors get buzzed in and then they make their way into the school. Um, but also that that that level of security exists in our other primary student entrances. And each school, if you haven't realized it, has three primary entrances. So looking at enhancements there. And then we have some athletic fields, one of those big fields, it's called a stadium, uh, where there's oftentimes an assumption that the stadium is used primarily for football. But our stadium and our field turf is used across the arts and athletics and activities during the school day, after the school day, on weekends, and really as late as you can, as long as those lights can stay on. Um, and it's time to review our capacity of bleachers, our structure of fields, and also making sure that there's clear access points and accessibility and important things like restrooms conveniently located and things of that nature. So, with the facility plan, we are really focused at making sure that we're getting feedback before we start designing the intricacies of all these things. Carol, I want to start with you and recognize that you did a tremendous amount of work on developing our strategic plan. And part of that strategic plan is being nimble and continuing to meet the needs of our community as they might change over the over the next um now four years. Carol, what is what are ways, what are strategies that we can gather feedback from parents and students and making sure we're hearing all voices and not just a limited group of voices?

Master Facility Plan: Outside In

Speaker 3 18:55

Well, I think we've already started that, especially with the master facility plan. And one of one of the first ways that we've done that is to make these public presentations at the Board of Education meetings and which are open to the public. Um, we've also made presentations at the facilities committee, at the finance committee, so people are really understanding what is happening with the facilities plan, how much it's going to cost, where we're going to get the money, when we're going to spend the money, and what we're going to be spending the money on. We've talked a lot about the stadiums, as Dr. Gavel mentioned right now, because that is really so significant. And I think we had talked about this earlier, where some people in the district are saying, Are you really going to be doing stadiums? And the answer from the outside in is, or the inside out, is yes, we are going to be working on stadiums. And given that scope and the fact that these facilities are going to be serving multiple areas, as you said, not only athletics, but fine arts and from sometimes sunup to sundown, it is really essential that we do some engagement efforts. So I know that some of our uh Board of Education members have attended parent association meetings to kind of talk about, um kind of give a glimpse and kind of an awareness campaign of what's happening with that. And they have what happens right now is that the Board of Education members go to those meetings and then they come back to the to the um meetings and they report back on what they've seen, what they've heard. And the thing that Mr. Glowacki, when he went to both of the GBS and GBN Parents Association meetings, reported on is that parents want more.

Speaker 1 20:36

And um kind of closing that loop of saying, this is the feedback. Yep, now we want more. What's the next step? Right, right.

Speaker 3 20:43

And I have been fortunate to be in some of the meetings with the architects and with the with the um construction companies to really talk about where we're going to start with some of that feedback. And some of it has started with the staff members because um, as as uh you mentioned, Dr. Gravel, we we want to talk to the band directors, we want to talk to the athletic directors, we want to talk to the PE teachers about what is what is happening. So we had some of those meetings in February. But as we move into March, we're going to be um really diving deep into providing some renderings of what is happening and get get that feedback. So we'll be having things with the uh GBN coaches, the trainers, the band directors, but then also the GBN Booster Club. And then we'll be doing the same with GBS, having uh those conversations with the staff before we bring some of those renderings to the GBS Booster Club. And some of the conversations that I've been in, we've talked about um, like you said, the the bathrooms, the entrances, um, especially at GBS now. Well, it's actually at GBN, right? Where people say, I'm not quite sure where we're supposed to go. There isn't, there isn't one main entrance where you know that you have arrived. So this is an opportunity for us to look at those particulars on our entrances. And think about if we're going to be moving some things around.

Speaker 1 22:02

Not just signage, but structures.

Why Stadiums Touch Arts And Athletics

Speaker 3 22:04

Right. Structures and making it a little bit more prominent. At GBS, we had looked at the area in the back where sometimes, unfortunately, an ambulance has to come in. And what do we have to do to make sure that an ambulance has access to those fields if somebody unfortunately is injured? So it's a lot more than just what are the bleachers going to look like and how many bathrooms they're going to be. There are a lot of pieces. And right now, as a staff, we're thinking about what are the ways that we can engage the community and what are the pieces that the community really can help us to prioritize and not necessarily design, but give us information about which design they like best.

Speaker 1 22:46

Now, Carol, I really appreciate that you gave the example on the stadium project of meeting with the booster clubs and also our physical education teachers. That's one route. In your mind, what does that experience look like? Any thoughts, kind of if I'm a parent who shows up to that, what I might be asked about or have a conversation about?

Speaker 3 23:08

One of the when I have talked to Mrs. Bonner, who's our incoming assistant superintendent for operations and student experiences, she and I have worked on this, on this plan about thinking about how we can make it meaningful for the families who come to the meeting, because we don't want people to come and say, I give you an idea and I don't see that anywhere. So it's really about showing the renderings, talking about the plan. We might be able to ask people, which one do you prefer? And I think that many people will say that they're visual learners. And so if we can bring renderings and if we can ask people what they prefer, do you like this style better? Do you like this style better? And then we can take that feedback back, kind of um regroup and bring it out again to see if we if we capture what people want.

Gathering Feedback: Staff And Parents

Speaker 1 23:59

So it'll be uh a little bit of show and tell. Correct. We'll show some examples, gather feedback, refine, and possibly go through that iteration again. Absolutely. Well, let's take that opportunity. Um, that's just one example of how we can get feedback. One of the things that I know I'm always interested in knowing is what's the best way to get feedback and to get um opinion shared. And I always emphasize I want to hear the positive and where we have areas for growth. Um, and I think that's so important so that the final product represents all of the different thoughts and opinions, not just individuals who will look at a proposal like you mentioned, Carol, of one model and say, oh, that looks great. Let's move forward with it. Um it might be great.

Speaker 3 24:47

Exactly.

Speaker 1 24:48

Like this is great, but here are three different things that you could do to change it. So, Jane, we'll start with you. Um, we do like sending emails. Do you do you know that?

Speaker 2 24:57

Yes, I do. Okay.

Speaker 1 24:58

It's read them. It thank you for that. Thank you. Um, in your minds, beyond email, what's the most effective ways that we can gather feedback and um and just have a conversation with parents?

Speaker 2 25:13

Yeah. Well, I I do believe that as you've mentioned and Carol mentioned, um, being at the meetings where the parents are is a great way to get feedback from them. At our parents' association meetings, the parents are very engaging. They share information as well as ask questions. So I think going to those meetings and interacting directly with the parents is a great way. Um, I do think the emails are effective, and I think that the uh the communication I've heard from several people, and I agree myself after being in the district for so long, that it's been improved. And um this new program with school links is is helpful. That's that's what it's called.

Speaker 1 25:49

Um It's School Links and Parent Square. I mean, there's so we've added so many different tools that sometimes it's hard to keep them all straight.

Renderings, Iteration, And Choice

Speaker 2 25:57

They are helpful though. Um social media, I know parents do share and receive information on social media, so that's a great way in addition to the emails. And um yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 3 26:09

It really worked. I'm sorry, no, go ahead. Um, it has worked out well, I think, when our school board members come back to the to the meetings and report out of what they have talked about. And then we we um address that and include that in the board notes. So even if you weren't at the parent association meeting, you report out, the board member reports out, and then the entire community gets that in the board notes. And I think that that's been um an effective way to we're not getting um two-way feedback that way, but we are doing some informing and we are doing some awareness.

Speaker 1 26:45

You did make one comment that I just wanted to check. I'm kind of dating myself these days in terms of my preferred social media platforms. Um, or my child at least definitely dates me on that. With respect to our parents, what social media platforms do you find parents more uh navigate to?

Speaker 2 27:08

I am also old school.

Speaker 1 27:09

So I I would say Are we joining the same club here?

Speaker 2 27:12

I would say Facebook for me. Um, and there are a lot of parents that still use Facebook. I think it's a little bit of a dated social media app, but um, I think that's still useful and Instagram as well. I think those are the two.

Speaker 1 27:24

So you see both being a good opportunity. Yes. All right. Well, Ed is coming to you now. Load different question, same kind of concept. Um, what would make you more likely to respond to a district-wide request for feedback? What would intrigue you? What would yeah capture your attention in the beginning?

Beyond Email: Reaching More Parents

Meeting Parents Where They Are

Speaker 27:46

Yeah, I I think that it is related to kind of what we just were talking about in terms of that. Um look, the reality is I think people are busy. Um, when you talk about things like Parent Square, um, you know, I'm a parent in the community, so is everybody you are part of the square. I'm part of the square, right? Um, and those emails come at you nonstop. Uh, and they're factive. Most of the times when you turn to a friend or your wife at the end of the day, and they're like, I didn't know that was going on. You could probably go back and find it somewhere listening. It was there. Um, and that's just the challenge of communicating to people today, period, with people with busy lives and really the volume of information that needs to come out out of the school. Um, engaging people, kind of like look for the two for ones, engaging people in person when you already have them. So, for instance, um, we could have just talked about the MFP during the booster club this year and how it might affect some of our future projects, but you know, credit to you and your team to come in and want to present. Uh, and that has stirred up, whether you know or not, a lot of interest. Uh, you're suggesting we might have a few visitors uh the meeting. Well, I mean, that has at least stoked the interest amongst people in the booster club. So, like, I don't know how many opportunities there are to get people there. And you know, I'll put up sports kickoffs. Um, you know, we do big sports, fall sports, or supposedly each season we do a sports kickoff. We have, you know, ticket for spring. I think, don't quote me, there's 11, at least at GBS, I think it's over 1,100 athletes in the spring. It's by far, I'm sure at north, it's it's the most populous season. Um, but you've got most parents there, certainly underclass, you know, freshman sophomore parents for the first time interacting with the athletic department. That may be a time for, you know, a short uh presentation or to at least tease how feedback wants to be done. In terms of mechanisms. So, like I think if you can meet people while they're already there at school and kind of try to grab the win-win captive audience, I still think that's that's probably not, you know, it's not going away as being most effective. Um, and and you know, especially when you're talking about MFP, you're talking about people that might have already a vested interest if you're talking about stadiums or athletic facilities. Um don't sleep on email. I but you know, we've we've built up a pretty effective newsletter through our marketing team, over 3,500 names and lists. Oh my gosh, it's um list that's been a real, you know, a real growth driver for us, frankly, an engagement driver. Um, I would concur uh with Jane around Instagram. You know, we've had a booth build spend a lot of time building our social media presence. I do think that that has been effective for us in our experiences.

Speaker 3 30:27

Um and I have a question about your uh about your newsletter. So you're 3,500 people on there. When people have their children graduate, do they stay on there?

Speaker 30:38

Yeah, it's it's it's it's it's um booster club members and a tire members, if you will, a booster club alumni, people that why might want to stay in touch with um what's going on in the school.

Speaker 3 30:50

So when we think about the challenges of communicating with our community at large, we could almost tap into um an audience through the booster club newsletter that is ready-made of people who don't have children in our district anymore, but are still community members.

Newsletters, Social, And SMS

Speaker 31:08

You have people that at least have a community member with some vested interest that may be interest with other. I mean, I'm not saying that's unique to the booster club, that could be with the parents association as well. You've got a captive audience, and as long as, you know, again, there there tends to be just a lot of overlap, it's just another way to hit people. We have the added benefit that we're putting a lot of content around uh content around the exciting thing. We're not talking about the parent square stuff, right? Mind you. So that's the challenge. Right. Um, but we're talking about, you know, what did great deadlines are exciting too. Right, exactly. Well, you know, what did girls' soccer do, or what did the boys' basketball team do, or what did the football team do? What did girls' tennis do? Whatever it might be. So, like you have just natural people going to see, oh, let me see how my neighbor she's on that team, or he's on this team, or my son played this sport at GBN, and you know, I was like, see how that team's doing. Just another way of like people kind of backing into it. The other thing I would say, and this is the most impersonal, but uh we find most effective is SMS, is just text. Um, there's no context and it's a cost involved, it's not a free medium per se. And um, but when you're taught when we've seen engagement really skyrocket when we have various initiatives, we tend to not go to it that often. But um the reason why people don't emails is people really aren't checking emails, and the younger you are, whatever school that is, um, increasingly that is going to be the case. Um, and so um, to the extent you can mobilize feedback requested on uh whatever initiative that you're looking for, and you can leverage an SMS network. I know that probably not the same one you use for school emergencies, et cetera. But that might be a way, like I think you get more opportunities for people. I'm on the train, I'm waiting in the doctor's office, I got time, it's on my phone. Guess what? I'm already on my phone. Um, it could be uh an engagement driver.

Speaker 3 32:56

So we have we have found that with our parent communication survey and with other, like our five essential survey as well, is that when we send the link out in text, then people are more likely to complete it. So that might be a way we're we try to your point, we try not to use testing that much. But in the event that we want some feedback, that it's not a bad way to go.

Speaker 33:17

Small scale. And we have different, you know, we don't have the challenges that you do around communication, communication overload. We have more captive audience per se, but something to consider if it makes sense at times.

Three Takeaways For Better Outreach

Speaker 1 33:28

Well, I'm hearing loud and clear three key things. Number one, don't live or stand on email alone. Um, email is a good form of communication, but also connect the folks in the areas where they're maybe living some of the time, like Facebook and Instagram. I've heard two for one, this is a new term I like. If you have a group together, take an opportunity and borrow just a few seconds of that time, not a 20-minute presentation per se, uh, but leverage the captive audience that you have. Um, and it still sounds like text messaging sometimes is just the easiest way to get information across. And I know that um we've actually started talking about this um at a parent association meeting. Is there a benefit um on uh on a meeting day, let's say at four o'clock, sending out a message to everyone and saying, hey, a reminder there's a parent association meeting tonight. Um so we're we're always looking at different ways to explore. Well, this has been really helpful. I appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts. I want to kind of uh bring us to a close and I want to challenge both of you for the ever-popular elevator pitch. Imagine you have a captive audience here. Now, to Ed's point, we're gonna capture a little content here and we're gonna put that out there. So you're gonna help us generate more listeners and generate more engagement here. You got 30 seconds to say why to join the Parent Association or the Booster Club. Who wants to go first?

Speaker 2 35:07

I will go first.

Speaker 1 35:08

All right. All right. Jane is here. Jane, tell us why the GBN Parent Association is the place to be.

Thirty-Second Pitches To Join

Speaker 2 35:16

It's a great way to get information. It's a great way to build community, and it's a great way to support your student at the school. Um, we provide hospitality for the teachers and the students throughout the year. We provide awards to two seniors and one distinguished teacher, and we um provide home mailing of the student newspaper, The Torch, to families of our members, um, which is a great way to find out information for the students themselves.

Speaker 1 35:45

Written by the, I mean, it's it's an amazing publication.

Speaker 2 35:48

Yep. And the hot topics and everything you'd want to know about what's happening in the school. Um, and it's just a really good way to show your student that you care about their education and you care about the community and uh meet other people. And it's only $26.

Speaker 1 36:03

Well said. We start with the lead of it's a way to make connections and end with it's a great value. Ed, this is your opportunity. This is your content that we're gonna capture. 30 seconds. Why should we join the Glenbrook South Booster Club?

How To Sign Up And Donate

Speaker 36:19

Well, it's it's probably one of the most enriching and satisfying uh ways to take part in your child's education. Um, it really speaks to kind of the total academic experience in 225. Um sports, uh, athletics, and that's I will use a phrase earlier, expanding that to gym classes and other organizations that use these facilities uh as well. Um, you know, the things that you can visibly see that uh have been products of Booster Club in the past and potential products going forward, um, are really a way for parents to not only be involved in the enrichment uh for their own students' benefit, but also uh provide a legacy, so to speak, for children that will come in the district throughout. I think that most people think about, they don't think about it as just my four-year time. They live in these communities, they continue to live in these communities, Glenview and Northbrook. Um, this is a way for you to every time you drive by that that school, you see that stadium, you see that scoreboard, you go watch that teen, you can see a little piece of kind of what your time involved uh at GBS with the Booster Club was able to leave for students going forward. And I think, you know, at any different level, whether it's small or large, uh people like to feel the connection and understand a little bit more of the why. And so um, you know, I think this is a great opportunity to do so in a great way to kind of um engage in the community in a different way.

Board Engagement And Closing

Speaker 1 37:47

And so from Ed's perspective, big takeaway, the booster club is not just for parents. It is a connection to the Glenbrook South learning organization, the school, the Titan family. And whether you're a community member, an alum, this is a way to stay in tune, stay connected, and celebrate the many great things that this community school has to offer. So thank you so much. Just to kind of review, um, parents can sign up for any of our parent organizations directly online, register.glenberg225.org. Uh, you can be a parent or you can be a guest. Everything is processed. We accept Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and everything. Uh, happy to have you support. And all of those donations are tax deductible. Um, while we have this roadmap for 10 years, the master facility plan, we're still looking for parent feedback. So if you have ideas or would like to get involved, please reach out. You can reach out to Carol Smith, our executive director of communications, or myself at any time, send us an email, uh, drop us uh a phone call, and we'll happy uh to connect you with the groups coordinating those events. And finally, um, I do want to recognize our Board of Education who really have stepped up this year to get involved with our organizations. They are attending meetings, they are reporting back, they're really creating that feedback loop. So it's been wonderful to hear what's going on, uh, even when we can't uh attend every single one. Um so we're maintaining that awareness and that pulse. Um, I want to thank Ed, Jane, and Carol for all of your amazing contributions. Thank you for being part of this conversation. Hopefully, I did not uh go too long. Christina Every sometimes uh articulates that I am long winded. Uh, but we look forward to connecting again next month on Glenbrook Insights.